We’ve been doing some updates, here Peanut the cat gives his approval on a new armchair in the living room. I hung this sweet porcelain horseshoe over my front door for luck. Bebe was awful scruffy (how I like her!) before getting her semi-annual fur cropping. Oklahoma has some of the best sunset I’ve ever seen and brought out her best for the month. I visited Plenty Mercantile for the first time (I’ll be going back. Often.) and picked a few giant sticks of colorful taffy to ogle. Last month I commissioned this beautiful MCM-inspired coffee table and it was delivered last week. We updated the front door with some vinyl house numbers for a fun, graphic look. S’mores candy corn exists. For the record it’s good, but not heavily s’mores-y.

I have an enormous new artist crush, and the object of my affections is Turkish painter Gulten Imamoglu. At first look I thought her colorful and dynamic paintings were actually floating ink experiments, the fluidity just seemed too good. Gulten talks of life and death, natural disasters, infinity and dreams as to what she’s creating within her art. What I see is a place where I could easily escape the daily realities of life.

Esther Lobo, aka FahLoSue, creates art inspired by ink blot Rorschach tests. But instead of ink, Lobo relies on different foods for her Rorschach project. She creates each piece by smearing yogurt, ice cream, peanut butter, and other malleable foods onto plastic plates, then folds each one in half. Using no post-production on her photos, Lobo creates these symmetrical images and leaves the rest to our psyches.

To me the phrase coffee table books is a big mosnomer. My definition is something along the lines of: unique books that are begging to be shared in any and all capacities, that are pleasing to the eye, and that don’t require hours of reading. In my home that means that yes, they are on the coffee table. But they are also on the bar cart, in the guest room, and on the mantel. Anywhere that warrants something extra special. To me it’s a fine curatorial line that needs to include art and writings, fact and fiction, food and conversation. Here are my ten most reliable favorites.

Fine I admit it, I’m already thinking about the holidays. It’s so hard not to in an industry that moves months ahead of reality! But don’t worry, I’m no further than Thanksgiving in my mind and I’m blaming it all on these delicious photos from prop stylist/set designer Amy Wilson.

Shanna Murray is such a talented illustrator, and this fall she’s teamed up with West Elm to create a heartfelt collection that celebrates friends and family through her well-known handwritten phrases. Choose from salad plates, a platter, coasters, a pie dish, and a tea towel featuring her signature script. Perfect for the upcoming holidays.

Loving the look of Le Vero‘s elegantly designed line of personalized business and travel accessories. Anything that helps organize my life even the slightest bit better and I’m all in, and that’s just what Le Vero aims to do. Their four piece collection (computer bag, business card case, wallet, and passport cover) is available in three rich colors – navy, rose, and canary yellow – and each piece is personalized using a restored Royal typewriter. I was lucky enough to receive a navy business card holder and love the simple, clean design. The most thought out touch being two internal pockets, one for your cards and another for others. Support Le Vero’s Kickstarter campaign and see what all the fuss is about!

Have you ever commissioned a portrait of yourself, your family, or even as a gift for someone else? I can’t say that I have, but it’s something I’ve been thinking of more and more lately. It seems like every way I turn there’s an incredible illustrator or painter showing me yet another reason why I need one of me and my crazy pet menagerie. Here are just three that I’ve got my eye on, top to bottom they are My Little Buffalo, Jolly Edition, and Lili di Prima.